Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Democrats Pay Black Staffers 30% Less

If
you’re a person of color hoping to get hired by a political campaign,
here’s the ugly truth: You’ll probably get paid less than your white
counterparts, if you’re even hired at all.

On both sides of the aisle, there is a racial pay gap in campaign
politics. Asian, Black and Latino staffers are paid less than their
white counterparts, according to an analysis by the New Organizing Institute.

For example, African-American staffers on Democratic campaigns
were paid 70 cents for each dollar their white counterparts made. For
Hispanic staffers in Democratic campaigns, the figure was 68 cents on
the dollar.

And a recent study by PowerPAC+, funded by a major Democratic donor, revealed that less than 2 percent of spending by Democratic campaign committees during the past two election cycles went to firms owned by minorities.

Political
operative Michael Gomez Daly worked on two congressional campaigns in
2012 with similar budgets. On one campaign, Daly, who describes himself
as “a very light-skinned Hispanic,” was brought in as a field director,
primarily for his skills as a Latino operative who could reach out to
the Hispanic community. On the second campaign, where they did not know
he was Hispanic, “I just came in as ‘Michael Daly,’ instead of ‘that
Latino operative,’” he said. “Right off the bat they offered me twice
the amount for the same job.”